Canopy

The dream as a whole was another dream about returning to my old school, again with its own twist. Nothing particularly special, but still, I remember it well.

This one was also part expedition, another theme that’s appeared frequently ever since I went on one. I was in a group with school friends, picked seemingly at random from all the people I’d ever been to school with. It wasn’t quite an expedition, though – more like a trial, maybe more like what I imagine they have in the army. It wasn’t quite as strict though – in fact, it was more in the spirit of fun. I could see several other groups navigating. I remember navigating a labyrinthine series of paths in a forest. The trees were sparse but extremely tall, the canopy still enough to cast shade on most of the forest. It was…actually fairly captivating, for a standard forest anyway.

At the end of the path was a body of water, about ten metres long. Most of it had stepping stones though the last 1-2 metres had none. I watched people run up to it and jump over the last part. They seemed to do it with ease, though they had nothing burdening them.

When it came to me, I still was carrying a bag full of heavy equipment and nobody to give it to as they’d all jumped across already. Everybody was cheering me on anyway, even with my bag on. I decided not to waste time and I ran up from about twenty metres away.

I made it, with a lot more ease than I thought. It felt like my body had completely ignored the weight of the bag as I ran. I don’t know why but both in the dream and even now, there was something about that moment that I can’t put my finger on.

Everybody congratulated me. Maybe I was the last to make it across. There was a single narrow path leading ahead to a small building. We all slowly made our way there. I walked inside and set down my coat and bag. It seemed to be somebody’s house set up for some celebrations. There was food, drink and background music; a celebration of kind. It was for the trials as a whole, not just the maze. I know it was more than just a physical test, far more important than that – I’d go as far as to say it was a milestone. When I looked through the window facing away from the forest, I saw a large field, and there were plenty of people milling about, playing various sports, talking. They were everybody I’d ever known in my life. At the end of the field were some iron bars and behind those were some storage units.

It was nice, but it felt empty. Though the sunlight did make me feel a little better, I didn’t feel the burning sense of achievement I should have. I just kind of slumped to the floor against some drawers. There were some people in the room who seemed to feel the same as me. They seemed almost unresponsive to everything around them.

I got back up and looked around. There were some objects that clearly meant something to some of the people here. I could almost feel that value – almost, like it was at the back of my mind. In an attempt to lift my spirits I went outside and talked with some people briefly, though no there was no meaningful conversation.

After talking to about 3 people, some kids on bikes drove up the path in front of the storage units and started banging on the bars just for the sake of being disruptive. Even though I was on the other side of the field, it was almost too loud for me to handle. I don’t know what told me, but the noise was anywhere between 450 and 650 decibels – probably physically impossible to produce, and if not, probably far more damaging than just discomfort. Somebody ran out of the house and immediately confronted them.

The kids weren’t as adversarial as I thought they would be, and drove off very quickly, to my surprise.

Afterwards, I started a conversation with somebody nearby. This time, it was one that actually meant something…it was cut short, however.